Win a prize for the most peculiar item in your house! We have a kitty IV...top that!

Here is our first fundraising contest that was inspired by my daughter after she found the above item in our home. I'm going to need all of your help to make it fun so please help us out!! Whether you are a fellow nutty adoptive parent who has felt compelled to deep clean their houses for their homestudy or you are a household that has been inspired to do some spring cleaning....I want to celebrate you and offer a potential reward! Scour your house to find something strange, odd, bizarre, outlandish, eccentric, or curious and enter our contest!


I will start with our inspiration for this contest...have you guessed what the picture is? Yes, we have an IV kit for a cat that was being stored in our bathroom. I know, an odd place, but for those of you who are truly organized...where do you store an IV?? We ended up with this little treasure that we just couldn't get rid of when Arnold, our ballerina cat, was sick with some sort of feline cold. I had first attempted to nurse him back to health with steamy showers and warm broth...all the while truly hoping that we would avoid the vet bill. Within a day he was literally gasping for air and now needed to not only be rushed to the vet but now it was a Sunday. Yes... Sunday..... so now all of you that are pet owners know that I was paying for emergency weekend vet care which is easily double the cost.


Arnold received some antibiotics and some IV fluids and came back home. He didn't seem to improve much over the next couple of days but again I was doing extra supportive care with steam baths, encouraging fluids, and carefully keeping his nose clean with a warm cloth, to try to avoid taking him back to the vet. It was probably a Tuesday or Wednesday night when I once again pushed the panic button as he was gasping for air and told my husband that I really felt he should go back in.


Oh, I didn't mention that it was my poor husband that took our kitty in the first time. I'm not big on vet visits...I passed out as a child when our cat was getting her temperature taken. I don't know what it is...the smell...the panicked look on the animal's faces....the extreme amount of money exchanging hands? I just can't take it!


So, once again my husband took off to the emergency vet hospital because it was evening and well after hours. The vet took pity on my husband and the extreme amount of money that we were having to pay and offered that all Arnold really needed was the extra fluids and he would likely be just fine. He was just so congested that he wasn't drinking enough which then was making his congestion even worse and not allowing him to breathe. So, she showed my husband how to do an IV and gave him the kit. Well, Arnold improved rapidly after that with no need for the IV. But, I couldn't just throw that wonderful kit away. It is our "get out of going to the vet for free" card. So, back to the dilemma of where to store it! The kids think that we should sell it on ebay! LOL!


So, the instructions for all of you:

Please send a donation of $10, or whatever you are able to donate, through the paypal button on the top right hand side of the page. Then send your pic and description of your item to rcwalker@succeed.net. I will post the pictures and descriptions on my blog anonymously or give you full credit, whichever you prefer. At the end, our family will all take a vote as to the strangest item and award that individual or family with a gift card of your choice with 10% of the proceeds. Please, this is a family blog, so no upsetting images of anything inappropriate.


Please tell everyone you know about our contest...it should be fun to see what odd folks we all are and will really help us out with the mounting expenses. The worst case scenario for us is that it will take more time to bring the twins home because we don't have the money yet for travel, legal expenses etc.( I will be posting a break down of all of the adoption costs soon for those of you who are wondering how it all works.) I have heard it said many times that a family should not choose not to adopt merely due to financial constraints....God always seems to find a way when our desires are righteous. I believe that to be true and hope that we will be able to get to the twins as quickly as possible. 

I'm so excited to see what you all will come up with! Good luck!!